Healiva teams up with Japanese biotech to develop therapies for genetic skin disorders

Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), also called. “butterfly children” disease is a genetic skin disorder characterized by extreme skin fragility, causing blisters and erosion from minor friction or trauma. This condition predominantly affects children, who will suffer chronic pain and a reduction in their life quality. In the U.S., approximately 20 out of every 1 million newborns are affected.

Healiva, founded in 2020, specializes in chronic wound care solutions, offering a personalized and affordable therapeutic approach. Their proprietary technology platform focuses on cures for acute and chronic wounds, using a combination of cell therapies, autologous and allogenic cell therapy and medical devices.

C4U Corporation, based in Osaka, is a biotech company dedicated to developing safe and efficient gene therapies for rare diseases, particularly those affecting children. Their CRISPR-cas3 gene editing platform has several benefits including improved safety, efficient gene knockouts and an independent patent portfolio.

The strategic partnership is dedicated to developing a gene therapy platform for EB by combining their expertise and resources. C4U’s president and CEO Akimitsu Hirai highlighted the unique potential of their CRISPR-Cas3 technology: “By utilizing its proprietary CRISPR-Cas3 technology, a new generation of gene editing technology, C4U’s focus is to develop alternative and complete cures to genetic diseases. Skin diseases, especially EB, are relevant targets for the CRISPR-Cas3 platform, and we believe that we will bring a bright future to EB patients throughout the world.”

Dr. Priyanka Dutta Passecker, Co-Founder and CEO of Healiva, echoed this sentiment and emphasized the importance of their collaboration: “This collaboration integrates gene therapy prospects with our comprehensive cell therapy portfolio, leveraging our expertise in autologous  and allogenic therapy technologies and the capabilities of our manufacturing infrastructure."

(SR)